'Evening' falls to rising Roadside

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Roadside Attractions has acquired worldwide rights to the drama "Starting Out in the Evening," starring Frank Langella, Lauren Ambrose and Lili Taylor.

Roadside, which recently parted ways with IDP Distribution, is staffing a 14-member internal domestic distribution arm to release upcoming features. It plans a November stateside release and an awards campaign for Langella. Roadside will work with sales agent Robbie Little of the Little Film Co. on sales of the film to international distributors.

Andrew Wagner's film, which premiered to positive reviews at January's Sundance Film Festival, stars Langella as a once-acclaimed New York novelist whose books are out of print. Aside from a close relationship with his daughter (Taylor), he has led a cloistered life, spending a decade working on a book, until a grad student (Ambrose) approaches him to work on her thesis.

Langella won a Tony Award on Sunday for his performance as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's play "Frost/Nixon," and he will begin shooting the just-announced corporate whistleblower thriller "On the Hook" next week.

"Evening" is the sophomore feature for Wagner, who co-wrote the screenplay with Fred Parnes. Wagner wrote and directed the Vitagraph Films comedy "The Talent Given Us," starring members of his family.

The deal was negotiated by Roadside co-presidents Howard Cohen and Eric d'Arbeloff with Cinetic Media negotiating on behalf of the filmmakers.